


Land of Yesterday

by Sif



Series: Rio Taylor's adventures [4]
Category: Anastasia (1997), Marvel, Marvel Cinematic Universe
Genre: Awkward Conversations, Awkward Flirting, Awkwardness, F/F, F/M, Funny, Mistaken Identity, Sassy, Tension, Time Travel
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-10-03
Updated: 2019-10-03
Packaged: 2020-11-22 16:40:12
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,445
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20877362
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Sif/pseuds/Sif
Summary: Rio Taylor, science buddy of Tony Stark, uses their time machine to send her and Natasha Romanov back in time. They end up in Gleb Vaganov’s office, just when he’s interrogating Anya, suspecting her to be long lost Anastasia Romanov. When another Romanov presents herself, chaos ensues.





	Land of Yesterday

**Author's Note:**

> Note: this story takes place after Stark Wars and before FihT pt. 1 and 2.

1928 – Leningrad; Russia 

The wind howled outside Gleb Vaganov’s office, it was a cold and dreary October morning in Leningrad. Nevertheless order had to be kept and he was determined to make that happen. Anya, that street sweep girl….he had to talk to her. His men were out there right now, arresting her and bringing her in. He hated the fact that she was in his head. Even more that she was in his heart, although he had a hard time admitting that truth to himself. A sneer formed at his mouth as he balled his hand into a fist. He didn’t notice the ruckus in a nearby closet. The flash of light. The ‘oomph’ of two women landing between the cleaning supplies. 

“Where are we?” A voice asked, groaning in pain. “No idea! It’s usually a surprise.” Another voice answered. “Let’s find out.” The closet door opened slowly and luckily also without making a sound. But when two Russian soldiers entered the room, holding a scared young woman, the door closed quickly again. “We’re in trouble!” The voice hissed at the other. Rio had insisted on showing Natasha how Tony’s new machine worked, even though Natasha had protested, saying that waiting for Tony would be better. Rio was stubborn as ever and of course they were transported to some unknown location again. If Tony found out, she’d never hear the end of this. Not after their little space adventure. 

“Why am I here?” The young woman asked Gleb, staring at him in fear. “Don’t worry. I just have a few questions.” Gleb answered, glowering at her. “Comrad.” He added, trying to soften his look. Rio saw through the crack of the door that it didn’t help one bit. The woman stayed scared. “Why are you worried? Do you have something to hide, Anya?” Gleb carried on, when he also noticed that she didn’t relax around him. Anya shook her head. “I don’t want to lose my job. I need the money.” It occurred to Rio how handsome this man was. He had steely blue eyes and short, brown hair. A strong jawline gave him a very manly and stern look, but there was a hint of boyishness on his face, hidden beneath the authority, the wall he put up. 

Gleb ignored her and went to his window, staring outside with his hands clasped behind his back. “Beautiful city, Leningrad. I can stand here for hours, admiring the view. Looking at those fine people. Wondering why there are always a few rotten apples, ruining it for the rest of us.” 

“What do you mean?” Anya asked, a tremble in her voice. Rio didn’t like the fact that he was pressuring this girl like this. Something had to be done. When she reached for the doorknob, to interfere, Natasha’s hand shot forward and she shook her head ‘no’, looking very serious. Rio sighed and stayed silent. If Natasha was worried, things were bad. 

After doing his best to intimidate Anya, she left. From the exchange, Rio and Natasha understood that she believed she was someone important. And Gleb did not like this. He wanted to put the rumor to rest, for their own good. 

“What was all of that about?” She whispered to Natasha, but the spy shook her head again. It wasn’t a good time to inform Rio about the danger they were in. She turned around to search for a way out, since they’d surely be in trouble if this Gleb guy saw them leave. By accident, she knocked over a bucket with a bunch of brushes inside, causing the soldiers to quickly open the door to check out the ruckus. 

“Kto ty, chto ty zdes’ delayesh?”

Rio eyed them with worry in her eyes, what were they going to do? But Natasha stepped forward and spoke up. 

“Menya zovut Natasha Romanova.”

“Romanov?” Gleb repeated and rushed to the closet door, swinging it open even further so he could see who was inside. 

“Yes. I am Natasha Romanov. This is….” Natasha answered, looking back at Rio. But she hesitated. “This is my sister. Natalia Romanov. We ended up here by mistake. We are very sorry. We’d like to leave now.” Huh. Strange, Rio thought. Why did Natasha hide her real name from these strange men? 

“All of the Romanovs were killed. Ten years ago.” Gleb told the women, narrowing his eyes at them. Now Natasha sighed and shook her head. “You and your ideas!” She hissed to Rio.  
“What ideas? What is your plan?” Gleb interfered, before Rio could open her mouth. 

“We don’t have a plan, we ended up here by mistake. We’ll get out of your hair.” Rio said in a more determined voice. 

Gleb chuckled some. “I don’t think so.” He started to address the soldiers in Russian, while Natasha and Rio exchanged looks about how cute this guy was. “If you wanna have a go at it, go ahead.” Natasha assured Rio. “Are you sure? You wouldn’t care?” Rio asked in return, not getting that Natasha wouldn’t be jealous if Rio slept with someone else. “Not at all, you know that. I don’t own you.” The spy answered. A knot tied itself in Rio’s stomach. This would be the exact reason that three weeks from now, the two women would end their relationship. 

Gleb looked back at them and smirked. “Alright. We need to know everything. How you came to be here, why you are here, who you are and so on and so on. So for now…you’ll be our ‘guests’.” He said, obviously delighting in telling them they were being held as captives. Before Rio and Natasha could protest, the soldiers grabbed a hold of them and led them to a cell. 

“Why didn’t you drop kick their asses?” Rio asked Natasha, tilting her head. “In communist Russia? Are you crazy? The place would be crawling with soldiers within seconds and I can guarantee that they’re rather trigger-happy. That’s also why I said we were sisters. I saw your look. We can’t tell them we are lovers, they’ll have our heads. We’re obviously in the past, judging by their clothes. I am guessing somewhere in the 20’s. Since they are looking for Anastasia Romanov…” Natasha explained. Once again Rio was impressed by her deducing skills. 

“But you told them your name is Romanov. Our name is Romanov. They will think we’re related to the royal family now! Are they gonna shoot us?” Rio asked, gasping for air. She felt her anxiety skyrocket, by this thought. 

“I don’t think so. We have to keep our cool.” Natasha answered with a shrug, not really impressed by any of it. Or perhaps she was, but didn’t show it. Rio was jealous of her ability to cancel out her worries completely. Later that day, Gleb came by with a few men, to collect them both. Natasha was led into a small room nearby, while Rio had to follow him back to his office. 

“Have a seat.” He told her, gesturing to the chair in front of his desk. “Do you want some tea? Comrad?” Rio noticed that he was quite charming. But she also realized she saw the same behavior like earlier, when he tried to persuade that girl into doing his bidding. 

“Sure, thanks. So. I never got your name.” Rio answered, flopping down on the chair sideways, with her legs hanging over the arm-rest. Gleb glared for a moment, but then his charming smile came back. 

“Gleb Vaganov. And you are…Natalia…is that right? Natalia Romanov?” Rio accepted the hot mug of tea with a small smile and nodded. “Yeah but not related!” Gleb tilted his head. 

“Related?” 

“Yeah, to Anastasia. Natasha told me about her. You’re looking for Anastasia?” 

“We are proving that she died that day, ten years ago!” Gleb snapped, ignoring his ow tea and staring out the window, hoping to find a glimpse of the girl. 

“If you say so, my dude.” Rio said, rather bored. Her attention was lingering. She started to look around the office, not seeing Gleb giving her a curious look. “Your office is pretty sweet.” She remarked and jumped up from her seat, inspecting the bookcase nearby. 

“Thank you.” Gleb answered, feeling a little awkward. He wasn’t used to compliments. “Natalia, sit down. I am not done interrogating you.” The man continued, agitated that he felt the power shift to her. 

“Oh, so you’re interrogating me, huh?” Rio asked in a flirty manner, winking at him, a smirk playing around her lips. “Are you good cop? Or bad cop?” 

“What?” Gleb asked, confused. Rio chuckled. “Never mind. I’ll assume you are the good cop.” 

Gleb sighed, growing weary of her attitude. “Natalia, do you know what the best invention is, of our time?” He asked her, intent on telling her about a few torture devices they used to make people talk. 

“Capitalism?” Rio replied casually, not missing a beat. 

Now Gleb wagged his finger at her. “Now look here, young lady....” 

“Nah, I’m good. Ooh, is that a secret door?” Rio said with a chuckle, rushing to the book case when she thought she saw a secret door there. Gleb got a little anxious, since he was absolutely certain that it was hidden very well. “N-No! Don’t touch that!” He said firmly and pushed back the candlestick that Rio pulled out the wall. The book case opened slightly and closed right away, since Gleb held back the mechanism. “Ha, called it!” Rio remarked with a grin, pointing at the moving door. “So where does it lead?” 

Gled sighed. “Nowhere! Ok, stop that! Put that down!” He grumbled, when Rio picked up a statue and inspected it. “How old is this?” Behind her, a painting swung from he wall, revealing a panel with buttons on the wall. Rio didn’t even notice, she put back the statue and the painting swung back against the wall without a sound. 

“Will you sit down already?” Gleb asked her, even more agitated. This girl had been in his office for 10 minutes and already found two of the biggest secrets here. This was no good. How would he explain it to the general? “Where’s Natasha? We need to get home, it’s getting dark.” Rio asked, sitting on top of his desk, swinging her legs back and forth. But before Gleb was able to answer, she frowned and pouted. “I’m hungry. Do you have any cookies?”

“No, I don’t have any cookies!” He said in a raised voice. 

Rio just shrugged. “No wonder you’re such a sour puss.”  
“I am not a sour puss!” Gleb growled back at her, huffing when he saw her ‘really’ face. 

“Alright, alright, lets try this from the beginning and....why are you on my desk?” He asked her, doing his very best to stay calm. Rio looked around and shrugged. “Why not? There’s nothing else on here. You don’t work very hard, do you?” 

“Excuse me?” The soldier asked her in an ominous tone, narrowing his eyes at her, as he took a step forward. 

“I’ve been here half a day and there has been no work on this desk.” Rio explained, rather unimpressed. “Those ladies behind the typewriters, those are the hard workers here! What are all the cabinets for anyway?” 

Gleb straightened his tie and cleared his throat. He didn’t like this girl pointing out women were working harder than him and his men. “We keep track of every rumor here. For future reference. And I can assure you that a lot of very good men do good work here.” 

“Ah, lemme guess. Top men?” Rio asked him with a grin. “Why, yes.” Gleb answered, not getting the reference. 

Natasha casually moseyed in the room, hands in her pocket, chewing her bubblegum. “Sup?” She asked Gleb. 

“What have you done with my men?” He asked, annoyed at her blowing bubbles in his face. She shrugged. “They went for a walk. They got tired.” 

Rio couldn’t help but to chuckle a bit. Natasha probably knocked them out cold. 

“Tired of you, couldn’t imagine.” He said in a sarcastic manner and Natasha smirked proud. “So what’s happening here? Getting tired of my sister yet?” She asked innocently. 

“Well, he has no cookies, so I’m getting tired of him.” Rio answered before Gleb could. He sighed deeply, trying his very best to remain calm. 

“You don’t have any cookies?” Natasha asked him and Rio could swear she heard the same ominous tone that Gleb had used himself earlier. Must be a Russian thing, she thought. 

He stuttered a bit but then glared. “I am not your caretaker, you know! You broke into my office! And now I am supposed to provide you with sweets?” 

“Would be nice.” Natasha said with a shrug and a nod and Rio chimed in too. “Yeah, would be nice.” 

Gleb was about to explode on them, but a soldier rushed into his office, a few men close behind him. For some reason they stayed rather close to the door and kept an eye on Natasha. She just winked at them with a flirty smile. She knew why they were here. 

“Sir, the soldiers were beaten up badly! In the interrogation room!” The first soldier told Gleb, who looked at Natasha with a mixture of admiration and annoyance. He knew that she must be responsible for it.  
“So you did drop kick their asses?” Rio asked, snickering. Natasha just grinned. “Well, I did warn them.” She explained herself. 

“Arrest them!” Gleb said in a raised voice ,the whole situation getting on his last nerve. 

Suddenly there was a big flash of light, coming from out of the closet and Tony stumbled out of it. “Alright, redheads, lets go! Ride’s here!” He yelled, a wormhole behind him. He must have opened it and come through, to collect Rio and Natasha, in case they couldn’t return. 

The women didn’t waste a second and rushed towards Tony, Natasha kicking and punching her way through any soldier that dared to attack them. 

When Rio passed Gleb, she crashed her lips onto this in a heated kiss and without realizing it, Gleb eagerly returned it. Rio smirked at him. “Be nice, Gleb. To that girl too, okay? Be the good cop!” She told him before rushing after Tony and Natasha, who were halfway through the wormhole already. 

Once they were gone and Gleb had revived his soldiers, one of them asked him what they were going to make of this. For their records. 

Gleb frowned and thought for a moment. 

“We record nothing. We’ll never speak of this again.” He decided.


End file.
